Left wants 100,000 signatures to stifle conservative media through regulations
WASHINGTON – Ultra-liberal groups are undertaking a massive campaign to gather 100,000 signatures from liberal activists demonstrating support for legislation that would reverse President Bush\’s deregulatory policies.
Several pieces of legislation would reverse part or all of the Federal Communications Commission\’s (FCC) June 2 Biennial Media Ownership Review, in which the FCC voted to raise the limit on the number of television stations a network could own, and to lift the ban on newspapers purchasing stations in the same city. Free market groups such as Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) hailed the FCC\’s decision as a victory for free markets and consumers, and a recent poll demonstrated that 65% of Americans want more competition and less government regulation.
However, liberal activists and members of Congress who had witnessed the explosion of conservative voices that resulted from radio deregulation several years earlier began a campaign to reverse the FCC\’s decision, for fear that it would result in a similar conservative explosion on television.
Now far-left groups have undertaken a signature drive in a final push to generate 100,000 names of liberal activists in support of re-regulating media ownership. Americans for Tax Reform recently launched a website – StopMediaRegulation.org – for conservatives to express their support for President Bush\’s FCC.
"Liberal activists are now making a major final push to scare Congress into reversing the FCC\’s decision and to embarrass President Bush, even though we know most Americans support deregulation. I encourage everyone to check out StopMediaRegulation.org and take action on this important issue immediately," said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform.
Several ultra-left wing groups will hold a press conference with Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) – the sponsor of major legislation to reverse the FCC — this week to unveil their petition.